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Talking more quietly can reduce the spread of coronavirus, a study has found.
A reduction of six decibels in average speech levels can have the same effect on cutting transmission of COVID-19 as doubling a room’s ventilation, according to an advance copy of a paper detailing the research.

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Image: Quiet zones in high-risk indoor environments such as hospitals were recommended by the researchers
Six scientists from the University of California, Davis, said their findings suggested more quiet zones in high-risk indoor spaces – such as hospitals and restaurants – could benefit efforts to curb the disease’s spread.
The World Health Organisation amended its guidance in July to acknowledge the possibility of aerosol transmission, such as during choir practice, or when in restaurants or fitness classes.

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The new research showed microscopic droplets ejected while speaking evaporate to leave behind aerosol particles big enough to carry viable virus.

It said an increase of about 35 decibels in loudness, or the difference between whispering and shouting, boosts the particle emission rate by 50 times.

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Normal conversation is generally above the 10-decibel range, while ambient noise in restaurants is around 70.

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Lead researcher William Ristenpart said: “Not all indoor environments are equal in terms of aerosol transmission risk.
“A crowded but quiet classroom is much less dangerous than an uncrowded karaoke bar where patrons are socially distanced but talking and singing over loud music.”
The study emerged as the global death toll from coronavirus passed 900,000 on Wednesday, as worldwide cases topped 27.8 million.

Staff at Newcastle University are warning the institution is “completely crippled” and said they have “no idea how we are going to welcome students in three weeks’ time” due to the double impact of the coronavirus pandemic and a cyber attack.
For new starters, term is due to begin on 28 September with continuing students returning a week later due to COVID-19, but staff have expressed concerns to Sky News this could be delayed due to the situation with the institution’s IT services and the university’s ability to handle coronavirus requirements.

A spokesperson for the university has told Sky News: “Our semester will commence as planned… and we have business continuity arrangements in place to register our students.
“Our teams are working extremely hard to ensure this group of young people – who have already been through so much this summer as a result of COVID – are able to start here at Newcastle in a few weeks’ time and this sort of misinformation designed to sow confusion and anxiety among our students is unhelpful.”
A staff member who spoke to Sky News on the condition of anonymity dismissed this allegation, and said there were “genuine and legitimate concerns which the university should be focusing on rather than managing its reputation”.

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“The university is absolutely not being straight here,” they added, noting that as of Wednesday afternoon the university was unable to allocate accommodation for first year students due to the cyber attack taking down the system.

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Hackers claim to be currently holding Newcastle University to ransom having broken into its computer network and stolen data before encrypting the machines using the DoppelPaymer malware on 30 August.

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The university has manually registered “over 1,000 medicine and dentistry students who started with us this week” it told Sky News, with more manual registrations expected, meaning those students can access their student loans.
Several purportedly stolen documents have already been leaked to the criminals’ dark web site, and a message on Twitter apparently from the hackers has threatened to leak students’ personal data as part of their efforts to extort the university.
Students have complained to Sky News and on social media that the university hasn’t adequately informed them about the incident, and the university has not made any public statements about a ransom attempt.
A non-public email sent to staff and seen by Sky News also does not mention the cyber extortion, and suggests the university has still not been able to determine whether individuals’ data was stolen by the hackers.
In an FAQ titled “Is my personal information compromised?” sent to staff and seen by Sky News, the university appears to suggest it still hasn’t established what may have been stolen despite more than a week of incident response.
“The investigation into the incident is still at an early stage,” the answer to the FAQ says. “IT colleagues continue to work hard on the systems recovery plan, and to support the police and the National Crime Agency with their enquiries,” it adds.
“Please be assured we take the security of our systems extremely seriously and we were able to respond quickly to this incident,” the FAQ assures its audience – although not all have been convinced.
Referencing this statement, a member of staff who spoke to Sky News on the condition of anonymity, said: “I have lost all faith in my employers’ ability to keep my data safe given they aren’t even telling us what is going on.”
A university spokesperson said: “The university has a large and extensive IT estate with many systems. Each system must now be checked carefully and thoroughly to understand the extent of any damage and to preserve any evidence for the police.
“We have been as open as we can be during this phase with both our staff and students, without risking compromising or delaying this investigation. We are sorry for the disruption this is causing to our staff, students and partners.”
Sky News understands that the university is still on the first page of a six-page recovery plan, and attempting to establish which of its 1,500 servers have been infected by the malware. It is not clear how it will progress through this recovery plan by the beginning of the academic term.

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Sky News has learnt that the damage from the breach for university staff and students could also include the hackers having accessed plain text passwords – passwords stored as “PASSWORD” rather than in a protected format.
Correspondence between students and the IT service desk shared with Sky News confirms that their passwords are stored without being encrypted, with IT staff able to retrieve students’ passwords and email them to members if they are forgotten.
This is a significant information security shortcoming, with most authorities recommending that passwords are saved in a format so that even the system administrators are unable to retrieve them.
It is also directly contrary to advice from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) which explicitly recommends that organisations “do not store passwords as plain text”.
Despite this the university told Sky News: “The university uses industry-standard tools and processes to record and protect account information and, in particular, passwords,” and claimed: “We follow NCSC guidance on password practices.”
The university’s password policy requires the passwords are eight characters long – no more and no less – and only contain numbers and letters which are insensitive to case, making it much easier for criminals to guess them.
If the university is assessed to have been careless in protecting personal information, it could face a significant fine under the General Data Protection Regulations.
However the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has historically been hesitant to hand out such fines for security breaches at higher education facilities.
In a publicly available FAQ, the university has warned: “It is possible we will need to reset all Newcastle University user accounts but we will let you know when this needs to happen.”

Apple is set to announce new gadgets on 15 September, but there are rumours the next-generation iPhone will be kept back until October.
Here’s what to expect – and what not to expect.

Image: Tim Cook will reportedly not unveil new iPhones until October
Due to the coronavirus, the event is being held online – like Apple’s developer conference in June – and will broadcast at 6pm UK time next Tuesday (10am locally in California).
You’ll be able to follow along on the Sky News website and app.
An invite sent to media from Apple has confirmed the title of the event as “Time Flies” – potentially a reference to the new Apple Watch 6, which is among the devices expected to be announced.

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Alongside that, the iPad Air 4 could be making an appearance, but there are suggestions that the iPhone 12 won’t be announced this September due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Consumers will have to wait until another event – this one rumoured for October – for the next generation of 5G-compatible iPhones to become available.

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Fortunately, there are rumoured to be some interesting new little technologies making an appearance this month.

Image: Apple is expected to launch a new Apple Watch at its event next week
Perhaps the most novel are the Apple AirTags – similar to the Tile Bluetooth trackers, which can be added to a key-ring or other physical item and located using an iPhone app.
Particularly exciting is the idea of an augmented reality tracker, which would enable users to pull up the app on their iPhone and get an overlay of where the tag is located in the immediate environment.
It could be particularly handy if you don’t know which room you left your keys in.
Even if the tag has been left further afield, there are suggestions it could be located by other iPhones through Apple’s “Find My” app mesh network to identify the missing tag.
This tech could be used for other Apple devices, too.

Image: Apple is rumoured to be introducing its own version of Bluetooth trackers
Little is known about the Apple Watch 6, but – as the company’s premium health tech product – rumours suggest it could have even more features relevant to the battle against COVID-19.
Among these are a new sensor that can track blood oxygen levels (something which is already available in Samsung Galaxy Watch 3), which is a potential sign of respiratory infections.
Additional rumoured Watch features include a Touch ID fingerprint sensor and a mechanism for measuring the wearer’s temperature, although these rumours are less credible than others.

Image: A new device in the iPad range has been rumoured
A new iPad Air model has been suggested, too – updating the range of lightweight and thinner devices within Apple’s tablet series.
A new model has been predicted to be announced at the event – although it isn’t clear what features will be included beyond improvements to the stereo system and TouchID sensor.
Apple also has some big changes scheduled for MacOS and the Safari browser, although it isn’t clear whether these are due to be announced in September or at a potential event later in October.

Apple is set to announce new gadgets later today, but there are rumours the next-generation iPhone will be kept back until October.
Here’s what to expect – and what not to expect.

Image: Tim Cook will reportedly not unveil new iPhones until October
Due to the coronavirus, the event is being held online – like Apple’s developer conference in June – and will broadcast at 6pm UK time later today (10am locally in California).
You’ll be able to follow along on the Sky News website and app.
An invite sent to media from Apple has confirmed the title of the event as “Time Flies” – potentially a reference to the new Apple Watch 6, which is among the devices expected to be announced.

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Alongside that, the iPad Air 4 could be making an appearance, but there are suggestions that the iPhone 12 won’t be announced this September due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Consumers will have to wait until another event – this one rumoured for October – for the next generation of 5G-compatible iPhones to become available.

More from Apple

Fortunately, there are rumoured to be some interesting new little technologies making an appearance this month.

Image: Apple is expected to launch a new Apple Watch at its event
Perhaps the most novel are the Apple AirTags – similar to the Tile Bluetooth trackers, which can be added to a keyring or other physical items and located using an iPhone app.
Particularly exciting is the idea of an augmented reality tracker, which would enable users to pull up the app on their iPhone and get an overlay of where the tag is located in the immediate environment.
It could be particularly handy if you don’t know which room you left your keys in.
Even if the tag has been left further afield, there are suggestions it could be located by other iPhones through Apple’s “Find My” app mesh network.
This tech could be used for other Apple devices, too.

Image: Apple is rumoured to be introducing its own version of Bluetooth trackers
Little is known about the Apple Watch 6, but – as the company’s premium health tech product – rumours suggest it could have even more features relevant to the battle against COVID-19.
Among these are a new sensor that can track blood oxygen levels (something which is already available in Samsung Galaxy Watch 3), which is a potential sign of respiratory infections.
Additional rumoured Watch features include a Touch ID fingerprint sensor and a mechanism for measuring the wearer’s temperature, although these rumours are less credible than others.

Image: A new device in the iPad range has been rumoured
A new iPad Air model has been suggested, too – updating the range of lightweight and thinner devices within Apple’s tablet series.
A new model has been predicted to be announced at the event – although it isn’t clear what features will be included beyond improvements to the stereo system and TouchID sensor.
Apple also has some big changes scheduled for MacOS and the Safari browser, although it isn’t clear whether these are due to be announced in September or at a potential event later in October.

Microsoft has revealed the release date for its new Xbox consoles – and the price of the flagship model.
The previously announced Xbox Series S, the smallest Xbox to date, will go on sale worldwide on 10 November for £249 ($299).

The premium version, the Series X, will be out the same day for £449 ($499).
Pre-orders for both start on 22 September.

This is the tweet…Xbox Series X: £449 (ERP)Xbox Series S: £249 (ERP)Release date: November 10thPre-order starts September 22nd | #PowerYourDreams
— Xbox UK (@xboxuk) September 9, 2020

It said customers in 12 countries – including the UK, US, Australia and South Korea – would be able to pay for the consoles and a gaming pass through a monthly plan starting at $24.99 for two years.

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The Series S Xbox will not have a disc drive, relying on users to download and stream games, while the larger Series X keeps it.

Microsoft said the Series S would “deliver everything that is core to next-generation gaming – faster load times, higher frame rates, and richer, more dynamic worlds”.

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Spec-wise, it lists frame rates up to 120fps, DirectX Raytracing and Variable Rate Shading.
The Series S will also support Spatial Sound, including Dolby Atmos, and Dolby Vision via streaming apps like Disney+ and Netflix.
The main difference between the two versions is the graphics resolution, with the Series S graphics processing unit not as powerful as the Series X.
But Microsoft bosses say it is still around three times as powerful as the Xbox One, according to The Verge.
The company promises “thousands of games to play”, spanning four generations, when the new consoles are released – but marquee launch game Halo Infinite has been delayed until 2021.
Rival Sony also plans to launch two models of its next-generation console, the PlayStation 5, at the end of 2020, but no date or price has been revealed so far.

An online gaming firm co-owned by David Beckham has announced plans to raise £20m in a London stock market listing.
Guild Esports, of which the former England and Manchester United footballer is a founding shareholder, will become the first franchise of its kind on the London Stock Exchange if its placing plans go ahead this autumn.

The flotation would value the company at around £50m.

Image: Guild expects the esports market to have more than 600 million viewers around the world within three years
The online gaming market has boomed during the coronavirus crisis as gamers were forced to stay at home during lockdowns – a time when physical sport faced serious disruption.
Guild told potential investors the market had benefited from a “rapidly growing fan base worldwide”, arguing that some esports tournaments had attracted bigger audiences than the Wimbledon tennis championships, the Tour de France, and the US Open.

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It projected the market would grow to 646 million global viewers by 2023.

Its statement said: “The company plans to create a leading global franchise by establishing its own esports teamsto compete in major esports tournaments and a player training and scouting infrastructure modelled on the talent academies pioneered by Premier League football teams over many years.

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Image: Fortnite is among the games Guild is to recruit players for
“Additionally, David Beckham will use his global influence and following to support the development of the company’s brand and business.
“Guild initially plans to set up and field dedicated teams to compete in four online games: Fortnite; CS:Go; Rocket League and FIFA.”
The company added that it intended to engage the services of up to 20 esports players by the end of 2021 across its chosen game formats.